Comments made by Greg Duch

Tom: I realized that you might be reticent to answer such a direct question. That is why I asked if you were able AND WILLING to respond to my query. Thanks for your reply.Well, I do believe that the answer is AN UNEQUIVOCAL MAYBE, as to whether it pays to believe in God, AND A SPECIFIC GOD, as conceived by particular religions.Throughout history, people have been MARTYRED AND PERSECUTED for particular beliefs. WHETHER IT WAS the JEWS and their bel;ief in THE G_D OF ABRAHAM, during the Babylonian Captivity, the Roman Conquest, the Diaspora, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, et al--or Christians in first-century Rome, The Dalai Lama in Chinese-ruled Tibet, Catholics, in Northern Ireland, or Shia Muslims in Sunni dominated areas. People historically have bathed religious belief in oceans of blood, in the name of THE SUPREMACY of one belief or another.Yet to date, nobody, no human being has decisivelyproven nor disproven the existence of an all-powerful GOD-CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE. DID THE UNIVERSE SELF-GENERATE SPONTANEOUSLY OUT OF AN AMORPHOUS GOB OF PRIMEVAL MATTER, AND DEVELOP BASED UPON A MARVELOUSLY SUCCESSFUL COSMIC RECIPE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN BEINGS? OR DID A SELF-GENERATING GOD DO ALL THE PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION WORK IN SIX DAYS OR SIX TRILLION YEARS?DOES THAT GOD REMAIN TRAGICALLY ALOOF AND INDIFFERENT TO THE DAY-TO-DAY WORKINGS OF THE UNIVERSE, INCLUDING DISASTERS SUCH AS HAS OCCURRED IN JAPAN?--AND THE INFINITE NUMBER OF TRAGEDIES WHICH HAVE OCCURRED THROUGHOUT HISTORY? WHY DOESN'T THAT GOD INTERVENE ON BEHALF OF HIS/HER CREATION'S WELL-BEING? OR IS A GOD -CREATOR LESS THAN ALL-POWERFUL; THEREFORE UNABLE TO INTERVENE ON HUMANITY'S BEHALF? iN REPLY TO AN EARLIER POST, YES, I BELIEVE THAT HUMANS BELIEVE AS THEY DO, BECAUSE THERE IS A "PAY-OFF" IN ONE'S BELIEF SYSTEM IN THE REALM OF EMOTIONALLY, PHYSICALLY, FINANCIALLY, MATERIALLY, SPIRITUALLY SENSE OF CONGRUENCE AND CONFLUENCE WITH ONE'S LIFE. NONE OF US ASKED TO BE BORN. WE ARE HERE INVOLUNTARILY. SO WE DO OUR BEST TO FIGURE OUT WHY WE ARE HERE INVOLUNTARILY, AND WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR INVOLUNTARY EXISTENCE ARE AFTER DEATH.-- WHICH IS ALSO INVOLUNTARY AS PART OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE.WE CLEAVE , SOMETIMES VIOLENTLY TO THAT WHICH EXPLAINS FOR US THE WHY AND WHERE TO OF EXISTENCE.PERHAPS, SOMEDAY THE QUESTIONS WILL ALL BE ANSWERED. FOR NOW, WE HAVE TO LIVE WITH FUNDAMENTAL EXISTENTIAL UNCERTAINTY ON BOTH A MACRO AND MICRO BASIS. AND HUMANS ABHOR UNCERTAINTY...

FREEDOM OF SPEECH ALWAYS CARRIES CONSEQÜENCES; SUCH AS EXPOSING ONE'S INTELLIGENCE DEFICIT. AND SADLY, ONE BAD APPLE CAN SPOIL THE WHOLE BUNCH.-william tell, after the second, but unsuccessful attempt to prove hís marksmanship with WILL JR.

Tom:Self-Disclosure--I am Roman Catholic, primarily as a result of the fact that both of my parents were Catholic; all of my grandparents were Catholic; the ethnic group from which I descend is primarily Catholic; I had 12 years of Catholic primary and secondary education; in addition, I like the smell of incense, like spilling my spiritual beans to a priest every so often in the "box". If I weren't Catholic, I think I would be Jewish.-Greg

Tom:You mentioned that you grew up in a mostly secular household; and yet you now are Christian in your beliefs. Are you able and willing to say what persuaded you to believe in the God of Christianity in addition to a possible reaction to your early upbringing? -Greg

DOES IT PAY TO BELIEVE?Absolutely!!!!!Without a core set of beliefs, a human is basically a moral non-entity. If a person believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it is because there is a emotional/cognitive payoff for doing so. Do you believe in Allah?, you do so because you have a self-defined self-interest in doing so. The same is true of Catholics, Protestants, Mormons, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, et al. In fact, atheists are atheists because they have a self-defined self-interest in being atheist. Why would anyone choose to believe something that is futile in their eyes, fraudulent, or anathema to their code of moral values? They would be negating their efficacy as rational beings and contradicting themselves; living in a perpetual state of cognitive dissonance.So you believe as you do, because the payoff is worth the "trouble". The atheist is an atheist for the same reason a Baptist fundamentalist is a Baptist fundamentalist; THAT IS TO SAY, SELF-DEFINED SELF-INTEREST, BASED UPON CONGRUITY WITH THAT PERSON'S PREVIOUS LIFE EXPERIENCES determines our belief system. AMEN

In more direct address to the question at hand: Religion has been powerful force for good in human history. It has been a powwerful force for evil, as well.Humans have had a variety of religious beliefs. When religious supremacy and intolerance of others prevail, people, in the name of their religion have committed horrific crimes against others. Differences among peoples, be it in religious belief, language, ethnicity, color, ideology, etc. have sparked innumerable conflicts throughout human history.

To what extent do human beings have "free will"? To what extent do human beings exercise "free will" in chooosing or not choosing to believe in that which cannot be seen nor proven--say, for example, the existence of God.Isn't there a strong predisposition for children to "inherit' the faith of their Fathers -and mothers? Jews likely beget Jews; Roman Catholics beget Catholic; Muslims beget Muslims; Buddhists beget Buddhists; Hindus beget Hindus; Mormons beget Mormons,Skeptics beget skeptics. Therefore is not one's choice of religious belief, less than an expression of totally free will?What is "God"? Why is God? Where is God? When did God enter the universe. Or does God transcend the universe as "it"has been conceived in the minds of mankind; and which has changed constantly in the minds of men and woman since Adam and Eve, and Lucy. i.e. Earth is flat. Earth is center of universe. Sun is center of Universe. You and I are centers of our own individual universes. Each of us create our own universe. Each of us create our own sets of spiritual (religious beliefs). We create based strictly on the strength of our ability to have faith in--to believein what we believe. Action-behavior proceed forth from our personal, internal uniquely-formed beliefs--our unique reality. Reality is truly based upon our state of mind. We are predisposed to do and believe that which we perceive to have meaning, is purposeful, will bring us happiness, and is congruent with all of our previous life's experiences. As B.F. Skinner would say we are subjects of classical conditioning. We act to gain reward. We act in our own self-defined self-interest. If that self-defined, self interest includes the belief in God, well so be it.

TOM: Increased oil prices will affect air travel as well as auto travel. Airlines will be squeezed by increasing costs for jet fuel. Airlines will have to pass along the cost of increased fuel prices to the traveling public; or airlines will go bankrupt. I think that the airlines are in for hard economic times ahead, for an indefinite period. I fear that for jet fuel costs, the sky may be the limit!

Tom: I think we are approaching the verge of a post-petroleum -based transportation era. The reality is that political instability is likely to be a significant ongoing problem in many of the chief oil-producing countries-Libya, just one example, affecting SUPPLY ADVERSELY. Many more potential Libyas are out there. **At the same time DEMAND will soar as countries like China and India will compete with the US and Europe with greatER aggressiveness to procure adequate oil to satisfy the needs of their burgeoning economies.I think that the chart of the price of a barrel of oil will continue in just one direction (UPWARD) from now on.